


Mistaken

by owl_coffee



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Canon Non-Binary Character, Gen, Laufey is a good parent, Lot of dialog straight from the movie script, Multi, Odin's A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 23:08:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13623423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owl_coffee/pseuds/owl_coffee
Summary: Three times Laufey did not know Loki, and one time that Laufey did.





	Mistaken

When the visitor comes, Laufey can hardly believe it. The little figure swathed in magic thinks itself entirely invisible to Jotun eyes, but Laufey is Ruler in not just combat and sees more than most. Before it enters the throne room to take them by surprise, Laufey is ready with seithr to counter the spells of concealment. A Jotun with a spear pins it against a wall by Laufey's order, mere inches from a bloody death if the Ruler is so inclined.  
  
"Where did you come from?" asks Laufey fiercely. "Who sent you?"  
  
"I come in peace!" says the little intruder hastily. "I'm here with a gift for you, great King. Knowledge of Laufey and his deeds is still widespread across the Nine Realms."  
  
None other than the Asgardians would make a mistake like that. But what business does Asgard have in Laufey's Realm, any more? "What makes you think we will let you leave this room alive?" asks Laufey.  
  
"I can get you into the Allfather's Treasury, to steal back what was lost," claims the intruder, the Aesir, boldly. "Just a small party - three of your warriors - deniable. A pinpoint strike force."  
  
"I will hear you," allows Laufey, and motions for the spear to be withdrawn.  
  
The little Aesir straightens up, clearly frightened but trying not to show it. "Thank you."  
  
"But how can this be accomplished?" asks Laufey from the granite throne. "We are cut off from Asgard completely, since our Bifrost site, Inngangagarð, was destroyed in Odin's war."  
  
"I didn't travel here by Bifrost," says the little Aesir, smugly. "I know other paths that a few may walk, if they be subtle enough. Shadow ways, that only I can find."  
  
"And what of Heimdall? Surely your shadow cannot conceal the warriors against that gaze." Laufey has been drawn in despite better instincts to this meltwater plan, this thin-ice venture. The Aesir is persuasively arrogant.  
  
"It will conceal them for a time. Long enough for the casket to be reclaimed." The little Aesir seems to know Laufey has been caught on the hook. "A risk, yes. But for a great reward, hm?"  
  
Laufey asks a final question. "Why?"  
  
"I have a desire to - bring low a member of the Asgardian court. One who has wronged me." The Aesir sounds bitter enough, believable. "He will be humiliated if the casket is taken back."  
  
Laufey takes a deep breath of the cold air, feeling the decision weighing on the tongue. To risk the fragile peace that they bought, the survival of the remnant of the people, on the word of such a one. But the reward - to renew the world with the Vetrljós at last, to repair the cracks spreading now even in the Ancestors' temple? A handful of centuries and all that has been built will fall apart, else. There is no price that Laufey would not pay to put a halt to this slow decay. And, Laufey will admit to a deep secret joy in such trickery as the Asgardian proposes. To snatch it from under Odin Ginarr's nose!  
  
"Let it be done."  
  
  
-*-  
  
  
"You've come a long way to die, Asgardians," says Laufey, sitting on the granite throne. The throne room is not a shadow of what it was, but still, it is the best place to receive their - guests. The little party of blustering children from Asgard.  
  
"I am Thor, son of Odin!" The assertion seems to give the Asgardian courage. The others are of less spirit. They shiver in the cold, faces like pale pink worms.  
  
"We know," replies Laufey drily, in the voice that usually sends liegepeople cringing away. Alas, that ironic tone is lost entirely on the bluff, bullheaded fool.  
  
"How did your people get into Asgard?" demands Thor. It's almost funny how oblivious the Asgardian is to their situation. There is a bitter humour in this situation, and in these grim years Laufey will take all they can get. Byleistr, Helblindi, Útgarða-Loki. Laufey's bravest warriors. Laufey's loyal friends. Sacrificed to a dream of what could be.  
  
Laufey gives an honest answer. "The house of Odin is full of traitors." Perhaps one is even among this party, hoping to receive a reward. Well, it shall not be from the hand of Laufey. The Jotun have no admiration for those who betray their own.  
  
"Do not dishonour my father's name with your lies!" shouts Thor indignantly. This is really too much. How could the name of Odin be dishonoured further than it already is in the Nine Realms by Asgard's own blood-soaked history? Than by Odin's murder of Laufey's own offspring?  
  
"Your father is a murderer and a thief," Laufey says, rising from the throne in anger. "And why have you come here? To make _peace_? You long for battle. You crave it." Laufey has seen the type before. "You're nothing but a _boy_ , trying to prove himself a _man_." The Asgardian descriptions flow easily on Laufey's tongue, as easily as the seithr-ice flows over Laufey's limbs.  
  
"This boy has grown tired of your mockery," says Thor angrily. The Jotun guard begin to make weapons of their ice, blades casing their arms, to protect the throne.  
  
"Thor stop, and think." whispers one of the smaller Asgardians urgently. "Look around you, we're outnumbered." Interesting. Diplomacy is not usually a skill cultivated in their race.  
  
But Thor shrugs that one off. "Know your place, brother," he declares loudly.  
  
Laufey feels the call to destroy this arrogant child as an almost physical craving. Swallowing hard against it, gripping the arms of the throne, Laufey says instead, "You know not what your actions would unleash." The longing to avenge Laufey's despair by taking this one from Odin is so intense. But the price that would be paid by the people for it is too high. The Allfather yet lives. "I do.  Go now, while I still allow it." Laufey paces toward the Asgardians, looking down on them. Cannot resist a growl deep in the throat.  
  
"We will accept your most gracious offer," says the smallest Asgardian carefully. That one tugs at Thor's arm. "Come on, brother."  
  
Thor struggles to master violence, just as Laufey does. The Asgardian's face contorts, swallowing back something. But Thor does turn away at last. Then Laufey, ah, cannot resist after all. The spark of desire-to-mischief burns so bright it devours all that is wise, all that is calm. Laufey speaks again, each word calculated to drive that foolish temper to the bursting-point. "Run back home, little princess."  
  
All Hel is unleashed. By the time Laufey wakes the dyr, the Ruler's full of a vicious joy that's hardly dimmed by the poor sport of the combat. Thor is somewhat of a challenge, but the prince's friends are hardly worthy of the Jotuns' time. They came to Laufey willingly. Well, they shall reap what they sowed. Laufey has them cornered at the edge of the cliff-that-was-Inngangagarð soon enough. As the warriors close in, a savage joy of destruction burns in Laufey waiting to be sated.  
  
That is of course when Odin comes. The Bifrost burns and delivers the Allfather in almost comic glory, in a blaze of white light seated on a rearing horse. Laufey's Jotun hold the line, barely stepping back despite the apparition of their fears.  
  
The idiotic, violent heir shouts, "Father! We'll finish them together!"  
  
Odin Spear-Breaker snaps, "Silence!" and it's the voice Laufey remembers grown older, grittier. It still sends a shiver through the crowd. It sends a shiver through Laufey.  
  
But Laufey is Ruler, so conquers that fear learned in desperate battle and summons a pillar of ice. Now Laufey rises to the same height as Odin, greeting the Asgardian with some dignity. "Allfather."  
Looking into the King of Asgard's eyes, Laufey sees shadows, anger with the Princely offspring, fear, even. "You look weary," observes Laufey with satisfaction.  
  
"Laufey." Odin is direct. "End this now."  
  
As if Laufey had begun it! Odin always sought to twist blame away from his own. "Your boy sought this out," replies Laufey.  
  
"You're right," Odin tries, "These are the actions of a boy. Treat them as such. You and I can end this, here and now."  
  
For a sweet, sweet moment Laufey thinks Odin means single combat. Ah, how would that be now? Now that Odin is weary, Odin is out of practice, Odin is _old_.  
  
"Before there's further bloodshed," adds Odin. Coward.  
  
"We are beyond diplomacy now, Allfather," observes Laufey. The desire to pierce that second socket and know that hot burst of immersion a second time is burning in Laufey. A blind Odin. That would look well. Or to kill the heir in front of Odin. Perhaps that would be sweeter still. Taking from Odin what he took, long ago. "He'll get what he came for," promises Laufey. "War. And Death."  
  
"So be it," says the Allfather. Laufey makes an ice dagger as swiftly as seithr will allow, waiting for the last moment to arrive. The Jotun warriors lean closer, eager.  
  
Then it is snatched from them. Bifrost opens again and somehow Laufey is dashed aside from pursuit, knocked onto a rock as the light flares away, where they can no longer follow.  
  
Once, when Laufey was young, the frustration and battle-lust would have spilled out as a great howl among them. Laufey would have led them into a great attack, summoned their own Bifrost and claimed back their lost honour. Now, it's just another piece of gravel to swallow among so many. A bitter herb to swallow and Laufey has learnt to swallow so much bitterness it hardly chokes any more.  
  
  
-*-  
  
  
"Kill him." Laufey orders, seeing an Asgardian approach alone. These intrusions into Jotunheim grow tiresome, and not so amusing as at first. When the Jotun are trapped here, it is galling to be _dropped in on_ by some passing godlet on a whim.  
  
"After all I've done for you." The Asgardian smiles, fearless. It's the smaller one in brown and green, who showed some measure of caution that earlier day when Thor tried a hand at war-leadership. And the smell of the magic is familiar, too, now Laufey isn't distracted by Thor's amateur taunts.  
  
"So you're the one who showed us the way into Asgard," Laufey realises.  
  
"That was just a bit of fun, really," claims the little person, smile flashing like a blade. "To ruin my brother's big day." The Asgardian grows more serious. "And to protect the realm from his idiotic rule for a while longer." A strategising, indirect Asgardian? Could such a thing exist?  
  
Laufey leans forward, intent. "I will hear you."  
  
"I will conceal you, and a handful of your soldiers, lead you into Odin's chambers and you can slay him where he lies," offers the little Asgardian, casually.  
  
It's not as casual as it sounds, of course. "Why not kill him yourself?" Laufey offers blandly.  
  
The little Asgardian snorts. "I suspect that the Asgardians would not take kindly to a King who had murdered his predecessor." It's a plausible lie, or would be if the Asgardian Kingship wasn't such a bloody business. Perhaps this one simply wants a cleaner conscience. "Once Odin is dead I will return the casket to you. And you can return Jotunheim to all it's, uh - glory." The green-and-brown Asgardian's contempt is barely masked, the ambition not at all. Asgardian internal politics matter little to Laufey, except where they might be manipulated for Jotun gain. But this one's magic will get them into Odin's chamber where he lies as vulnerable as can be, and for that opportunity Laufey would pay almost any price at all.  
  
"I accept," says Laufey slowly.  
  
  
-*-  
  
  
At the entrance to the chambers, an Asgardian in a flowing outfit attempts to attack Laufey and Farbauti, actually gaining a blow with their sword that drives Farbauti to the ground. Laufey knocks the assailant aside without a word.  
  
The Allfather lies on the bed, motionless, surrounded by a golden healing curtain of seithr. Laufey kneels above Odin Vow-Breaker, reversing the intimate position they adopted, long ago, when Loki was begotten. There is no affection here now. Ah, this moment was worth almost everything paid, it is so piercing-sweet to have the Allfather at last like this.  
  
"It's said, you can still hear and see what transpires around you," Laufey whispers, holding Odin's one blue eye open with gripping fingers. "I hope it's true," breathes Laufey, "So that you may know," and forms a dagger of ice in the left hand, "Your death came at the hand of Laufey."  
  
But before the deed is complete, a blast of fire flings Laufey to the floor from behind.  
  
"And your death came by Loki, the son of Odin," says the little Asgardian, sounding righteous, heroic. Double betrayer, to turn on them at the last. Cunning, ha. But - Loki? There is only one named Loki in all the Nine Realms that Laufey knows of. The child! Laufey realises at last, too late to matter. The aura of magic continually surrounding this one masks what must be a powerful constant glamour on the skin, to disguise their true form and distort it into a hideous mockery. Beloved one, kidnapped, manipulated.  
  
Laufey gasps, makes no move to run or dodge away. Even in sleep, even in defeat, Odin has destroyed Laufey more thoroughly than removing the casket has destroyed Jotunheim. The heart feels fresh-plucked out of Laufey's chest. To think how Laufey has used this one, never realising - the precious moments with Loki squandered, scatttered to the winds. The useless striving after Revenge for what wasn't a death, but a hostage-taking. Loki's face contorts and Laufey's only child aims and shoots a second time with the staff, dissolving Laufey into a cluster of agonised sparks.  
  
  
  



End file.
